The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) have signed a cooperation agreement to jointly deliver a series of online courses on knowledge management and web 2.0 technologies for developing countries.

The UNITAR/FAO interactive tutor-facilitated online courses will be certified using internationally recognized quality standards schemes and based on a series of self-paced e-learning modules developed by FAO.

The first online course, jointly designed by UNITAR and FAO, is titled: “Innovative Collaboration for Development”. It covers social media tools, social networking, collaboration and knowledge exchange. It focuses on capacitating development professionals to adequately use the potential of social media tools to enhance the efficiency of their work, increase the outreach of their organizations and improve the effectiveness of their work-related social issues. This online course, launched in September 2010, is now entering its fourth session.

The UNITAR/FAO partnership aligns with the United Nations' calls for enhanced interagency collaboration and improved synergies among agencies implementing capacity building activities. The partnership builds upon the strengths of both institutions in developing and delivering high quality online courses. The collaboration takes full advantage of modern information and communication technologies to provide capacity development opportunities to professionals in developing countries.